birth

American  

[burth] / bɜrθ /

noun

births plural

1. an act or instance of being born.

   the day of his birth.

2. the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring; childbirth; parturition.

   a difficult birth.

3. lineage; extraction; descent.

   of Grecian birth.

   Synonyms:

   family, blood, line, ancestry, parentage

4. high or noble lineage.

   to be foolishly vain about one's birth.

5. natural heritage.

   a musician by birth.

6. any coming into existence; origin; beginning.

   the birth of Protestantism; the birth of an idea.

   Synonyms:

   inauguration, genesis, inception, commencement, start

7. Archaic. something that is born.

---

verb (used with object)

Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S.

births, present (3rd person singular) birthed, past participle, past birthing present participle

1. to give birth to.

2. to assist in giving birth; act as midwife for.

idioms

1. give birth to,

   1. to bear (a child).

   2. to initiate; originate.

      Her hobby gave birth to a successful business.

birth British  

/ bɜːθ /

noun

1. the process of bearing young; parturition; childbirth

2. the act or fact of being born; nativity

3. the coming into existence of something; origin

4. ancestry; lineage

   of high birth

5. noble ancestry

   a man of birth

6. natural or inherited talent

   an artist by birth

7. archaic the offspring or young born at a particular time or of a particular mother

8. 1. to bear (offspring)

   2. to produce, originate, or create (an idea, plan, etc)

---

verb

1. to bear or bring forth (a child)

birth Scientific  

/ bûrth /

1. The emergence and separation of offspring from the body of its mother, seen in all mammals except monotremes.

---

1. Present at birth, as a defect in a bodily structure.

birth More Idioms  

1. see give birth to.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• multibirth
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• births
  plural

Participles

• birthing
  present
• birthed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• birth
  simple
• births
  simple
• have birthed
  perfect
• has birthed
  perfect
• am birthing
  progressive
• are birthing
  progressive
• is birthing
  progressive
• have been birthing
  perfect progressive
• has been birthing
  perfect progressive

Past

• birthed
  simple
• had birthed
  perfect
• was birthing
  progressive
• were birthing
  progressive
• had been birthing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will birth
  simple
• will have birthed
  perfect
• will be birthing
  progressive
• will have been birthing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of birth

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English byrthe, from Scandinavian; compare Old Swedish byrth; cognate with Old English gebyrd, Old High German giburt, Gothic gabaurths; cf. bear ¹ ( def. ), -th ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

Those Social Security cards will feature the Freedom 250 logo and will be issued as part of the Enumeration at Birth program.

From MarketWatch • Jul. 6, 2026

"Is the iPhone Birth Control?" asked a paper published Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research, delving into why US fertility rates have fallen by 22 percent since 2007.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

Birth rates in the UK have been falling steadily since 2010.

From BBC • May 27, 2026

He is the author of “Little Richard: The Birth of Rock ’n’ Roll.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

The clerk laughed out loud at my Delayed Certificate of Birth.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Related Words

• beginning
• childbirth
• creation
• delivery